This invention relates to a motor vehicle comprising an operating device for the shifting of a power-shiftable transmission which is also automatically shiftable by a selector lever.
From German Patent Document DE-40 05 588 A1, a shifting mechanism for an automatic transmission is known which comprises a selector lever guided in at least one shifting channel. By means of this selector lever, various transmission speeds can be preselected in an automatic as well as in a manual shifting channel. The manual gearshift in this shifting channel comprises upshift and downshift positions which originate from a center position and can be shifted by means of touching. The automatic shifting takes place in the shifting channel which has the transmission shifting positions, such as the parking position, the reverse driving position and the forward shifting positions, which is caused by a corresponding shifting of the selector lever in this channel. For the shifting of the gears, a steering column switch is used. Furthermore, another construction is known which has a selector lever which is assigned directly to the shifting channels and can be operated in the manner of a rocker-type switch, and the transmission gears can be shifted manually by touching into the upshift and downshift position.
Also, from German Patent Document DE-39 41 665 A1, a motor vehicle comprising an automatic transmission is known in which operating elements for a gear selection and/or a program selection are arranged at the steering wheel. These operating elements consist of directly controllable pressure switches by means of which the individual gears of the automatic transmission can be prompted.
It is an object of the invention to provide an operating device for a manual and/or automatic shifting of a power-shiftable transmission by means of which a manual shifting of the transmission can be carried out from the steering wheel within easy reach and the mechanism consists of a compact constructional unit which is integrated into the steering wheel.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by an arrangement wherein the operating device comprises a finger-operated shifting rocker which is arranged in at least one steering wheel spoke, is held on a swivel shaft disposed in a housing and has an adjusting shifting element arranged between two electrical pressure switches.
The principal advantages achieved by means of the invention are that a power-shiftable transmission can be automatically shifted selectively by way of a selector lever assigned to the shifting channels but a manual gear selection can also be carried out. In addition, the manual shifting is to be carried out instead of via the selector lever in the area of the shifting channels also by way of an easily reachable operating device which is assigned to the steering wheel when the selector lever is in a manual shifting channel.
The operating device consists essentially of a shifting rocker which is connected with the steering wheel spoke. It is arranged adjacent to the steering wheel rim in such a manner that an adjusting movement of the shifting rocker can be carried out by the fingers of the driver's operating hand without having to let go of the steering wheel.
For this purpose, the shifting rocker has on its operating surface at least one corresponding indentation as well as at least one elevation which permits in a simple manner a feeling by and positioning of the finger for the swivelling of the shifting rocker.
The operating device comprises the shifting rocker which is swivellably disposed on a housing, in which case the housing is fastened to the steering wheel spoke by means of a screwed connection. The constructional unit of the shifting rocker and the housing are constructed such that it forms a part of the steering wheel spoke which has an approximately circular cross-section.
In its interior, the shifting rocker has a lever which is constructed as a shifting element and which acts by means of its free end on two pressure switches which interact with an electrical control device of the driving system.
For operating the pressure switches, which are preferably disposed coaxially with the interposed lever in the housing, the shifting rocker is swivelled about the shaft to two sides or directions by pressure by way of a finger of the driver's operating hand. The swivel path is at the same time the shifting travel for the pressure switches.
The housing comprises a component which is easy to manufacture, which receives the two pressure switches between walls and which forms the bearing sites for the swivel shaft of the shifting rocker.
The operating device is constructed such that the outer surface forms a flush outer surface with the contour of a cushioning of the steering wheel spoke.
The highest elevation of this outer surface is situated approximately in the outer plane formed by the steering wheel rim and a steering wheel baffle plate. Preferably, the indentation and the elevation for operating the shifting rocker are arranged behind one another transversely with respect to the transverse axis of the steering wheel and are situated approximately behind and in front of the highest elevation of the outer surface of the shifting rocker. The shifting rocker may be arranged on two sides of the steering-wheel rim in the spokes so that it can be operated by the left and/or by the right operating hand.
Because of its compactness, the constructional unit can easily be retrofitted in conventional steering wheels.
The principal advantages achieved by means of the invention are that, because of the construction of the shifting rocker of the operating device with two indentations in the outer surface which are arranged behind one another, a good haptic arrangement of the shifting finger of the driver's operating hand is ensured. In practice, it was found during a comparison between two indentations in the shifting rocker and one indentation and one elevation in the shifting rocker that the variant with two indentations can be operated much more easily.
It is also an advantage of the invention that the web between the two indentations, which are constructed as so-called finger depressions, is constructed as a transverse web which may have a convex curvature in the transverse direction. A transverse web of this type is not only used as a separation between the two indentations but may also be used for operating the shifting positions of the transmission and for downshifting the gear positions of the transmission. This has proven to be advantageous in that the finger of the driver's operating hand which is situated in the upper indentation for the purpose of upshifting does not take the path to the indentation which is situated farther away for the purpose of downshifting but the transverse web is felt as the replacement for the lower indentation. In order to achieve an optimal stroke for the downshift for the operating finger, the transverse web may be slightly curved in the transverse direction of the shifting rocker.
In the case of a four-spoke steering wheel, the shifting rocker with the two indentations may preferably be arranged in all four steering wheel spokes so that, also in the event of cornering, particularly during continued cornering, the driver's operating hand can always be assigned to a shifting rocker.